Dot HackA New Day: The Rebirth
by Twilights-Pain
Summary: While playing the world, Kaden AKA Masquerade One, is sent into a coma and her data destroyed. One week later, she wakes to find that her sister has gone missing and that more and more comatose players are popping up. Searching for answers, -Continued-
1. Login 1:

**Summary Cont: **Kaden restarts the game and finds herself armed with a powerful yet dangerous weapon. The avatar, Corbenik.

**AN: In light of the recent news of .Hack//LINK becoming a video game, my .Hack fasination has been reinvigorated. Now keep in mind this won't be updated as quickly, I'm scrambling to finish Transfer, Roadtrip and All the Wrong Choices by May Tenth (The release of my Baby, Totality) . This way, I can focus completely on my babies, this and Totality. **

* * *

Kaden,

_Meet me at the Moon Tree Headquarters. I have a surprise for you_

_-Ella_

-

I was sitting in class, learning about molecular physics, when the e-mail cam. Thanking myself for putting my phone on vibrate, I continued scratching down my notes. The e-mail could wait, the lecture, being given by a wirey man with a voice that sounded like it could belong to Speedy Gonzales, could not. Besides, class was almost out anyways.

"Thank you students. Remember to study for the finals next wednesday."

The entire class answered with a groan, excluding me. No one else really liked a test, especially one given my Mr. Speedy himself. HE had a terrible way with phrasing, so most of his question were asking something completely different than the one that was really needing to be answered. I knew what he was trying to say, and it seemed like people almost wanted lessons in 'speedy-ese.'

Remaining seated, I pulled out my M2D and checked my e-mail. To my utter horror it was from Ella, which meant I was on a countdown to reply before the whole slew of panic and yelling came in. God save me.

Of course, just because I got yelled at when I didn't check her messages, it didn't mean that I could yell at her for not checking mine, such as the one that said DON'T E-MAIL ME WHILE I'M IN CLASS.

No. Of course not.

_Ella, give me a few, I have to get home._

The response came barely a minute later, as I was trying to gather my things and get out of class.

_NO! NOW KADEN!_

I sighed and sat at my desk. I'd give her five minutes to show me whatever she wanted, and then I'd jet out and head home. I didn't need to put up with her bullsnot right now.

After readjusting my M2D, I keyed in my login and waited for the upload to begin. For awhile, I pondered lying to her, saying that the lead in the University Walls blocked my connection, but I was sure she'd see through my lies. For being only thirteen, she knew all the lies and loopholes in the book. If she would pull her head out of her ass for once, she'd probably make either a good lawyer or detettive.

I almost cringed at the thoughts that went through my head. Things had never been this way between Ella and I. We were always so calm and mellow with each other, and knew all of each others secrets. Now, just a few short months after Ella began playing the game, she'd become someone else.

I hated it with a passion.

But what could I do? Say that I didn't want to speak to her again? I could, yes, but at the same time I couldn't. I'd gone through so much before she came along, so when she actually did....she became my reason to live. To say that I didn't want to speak to her not only would disrupt our family but could kill my reason to live. It wasn't a risk I was willing to take.

Pushing my thoughts aside, I took control of my character, Masquerade I. Immediatly, I felt a rush of power flow through me. I was one of the strongest players in the guild Ella had made me join the first day I startd playing. Of course, most of the guild consisted of Noobs and Scenery lovers. It was pretty pathetic. But that didn't make me weak, of course. I had recently reached level one-hundred, topping Ella in our end of the month level check. Of course, when I pointed this out, I was told that it was a childish game.

Ella's shortmail brought me to my senses. Not daring to open it (for it was sure to be an immense cuss fest) I headed for the Chaos Gate and keyed in the words that I had been given. Almost instantly, my surroundings disappeared, signifying the transition between the Root Town and the guild area. It always made me nervous, going through this transistion. It was almost like going through an elevator. You were hanging in the balance between two things.

Just as I was starting to think (and hope) that the game had frozen, I arrived at the warp gate, just outside of the shrine-like entrance of Moon Tree's guild. I was slightly on edge as I looked around, a creeping feeling sliding down my spine. Part of me was screaming to run, to get out, but I ignored it. After all, it was only a game.

Still, I couldn't help but run all the way to the gate on the inside and press my palm against it. I desperately wanted to get this done and over with. The lack of PC's (and NPC's as well) was completely unnatural. Something _had_ to be wrong.

Ella was waiting at the farthest point in the area, seated with her back to me. All around her, strange bits of darkness floated, blinking in and out in multiple different areas.

"Kaden...you finally came."

A strange ringing filled my ears as the voice, a mans, reached me. Turning to the direction of the speaker, I found myself face to face with a man who's hair was slicked back into spikes. His eyes were pitch black, aside from a slight red speck in the center; his pupil.

_Not natural..._

"Good to see you actually listen. Though my dearest Ella was growing impatient." The man smirked as a slight giggle came from directly behind me. Spinning around, I found my self face to face with Ella. To my utter horror, her eyes were the same.

"Sorry sister. But this is the way things have to be."

The ringing increased in its intensity, while simultaneously increasing in pitch. Clapping my hands over my ears, I let out a slight cry and winced.

"Look at this. The brave Kaden is crippling just because of a little noise."

I felt something strike my chest, knocking the wind out of me, which came as a remote surprise. Blows in game never effected the person IRL, not even when there was a virus.

It occured to me then that I was wrong. Six months back, I'd heard on the rumor board that several people were actually sent into the came. CC Corp denied this information profusely, but I knew different. There was an accident that day, this confirmed it.

That...and the fact that I could no longer feel the outside world around me.

Ella smiled, her dark eyes shining with...glee. She was enjoying the pain that she was putting me in.

"Kaden, you've always been pathetic. I just couldn't tell you that...until now that is." A cat like grin spread across her face as she leaned toward me, drawing her grimoire slowly. "It's nice to see that_ I_ am the dominant one."

Behind her, the man smiled, his eyes locked on Ella. It sent rage burning through me, just enough to allow me to come to my senses. Rolling back, I planted my hands on the ground and kicked out, my feet colliding with Ella's chest. She gasped in pain and flew back, sliding across the ground as she landed. I didn't waste any time with checking on her. Leaping up, I began to run, stumbling as I did.

I didn't make it far before I saw a shadow pass by me. I barely recognized the slight flash before my eyes as a weapon being drawn. But I did, and I managed to stop just far enough back to see it as it shot forward, plunging through my body.


	2. Login 2:

**AN: And here it is, the kick off to the A New Day series!!!**

**I own nothing except Ella, Kaden, Sara, and Miriam.**

* * *

_Haseo,_

_Meet at Hidden Forbidden Bullwark, Morrigu Barrow Wall. There may be a use for us yet again._

_-_

Haseo was surprised when he recieved the e-mail from Yata. It had been nearly six months since he'd heard from his old boss, which was both a relief and a letdown for Haseo. He'd always entertained fantasies that he'd be called back into action. He'd deal with Pi's bitching and Atoli's pathetic-ness if it meant having something to do.

Pretty messed up, if he did say so himself.

Gathering his dignity, he put up his front of being a pissed off teenager and walked to the Chaos Gate. Relieved or not, he wasn't going to let Yata catch him with his guard down. He'd rather be caught dead...

He smirked, a vague thought of himself actually dying due to the intense combat and trouble put in place by whatever his enemy would be this time. It actually excited him, and caused a small smile to cross his face midwarp. By the time he reached the wall, it was a full blown grin, right out in the open for everyone to see. Everyone cracked their secret smirks, except for Yata and a woman beside him. Both of them were looking grimly at each other, absorbed in what I assumed was a private chat conversation.

"Haseo!" A voice called, interupting his observation. Instantly he took back his earlier conclusion of what he said about what he could put up. He certainly couldn't deal with Atoli saying his name for another minute, let alone however long it would take to alleviate the newest threat.

Haseo began to mull over the possibility of making Atoli a lost one as Yata cleared his throat, bringing everyones attention to him.

"I hate to have called you here on such short notice, but there has recently been another attack in 'the World,' an attack that has lead to the first report of a Lost One in six months. Normally I would put this off as an accident -Haseo snorted at this point, disliking Yata's carelessness over one casualty- but I know this person by my contacts, and know that she is not the type to play until she drops."

The woman beside him looked away, her body giving a slight tremble. Instantly Haseo had a sick feeling that the two, the 'casualty' and the woman, were related in some way or another.

"Knowing this, I looked into the data logs and found that there was a server malfunction within Moon Tree's headquarters minutes before Kaden," Yata let the name slip, causing the woman to flinch and further confirm Haseo's suspisions. "Was found unconcious."

"Can we see the data logs?" Pi asked, raising her head from her thinking position.

"Unfortunately, not yet. I am currently working with CC Corp to restore G.U.'s headquarters."

"And when will that be?" Kuhn asked, his voice holding much anger and hostility. "We can't work blind for much longer. More players are going to get hurt."

"As soon as we can, Kuhn. It's not that easy to restore this kind of equipment." Yata told him.

"You don't even care." Kuhn muttered.

"No, he doesn't."

Both Kuhn and Haseo raised their heads in surprise. The woman had now raised her head and was looking directly at them, her eyes holding a surprising amount of emotion, despite just being pixels.

"I know of Yata's thoughts, which is why my husband and I have headed not only the Restoration Project but G.U. itself, behind the scenes."

Yata looked relieved as she said this. He personally didn't want to deal with the hard ass officials breathing down his neck again.

"And you are?" Haseo asked.

"I am Sara Smith, Kaden Smith's mother."

Pi's eyes narrowed slightly and she caught Sara's gaze as she stepped forward.

"And do you think that you're capable of heading G.U.'s workings."

Sara met her gaze, her eyes blazing, once again setting Haseo on edge again by her surprising ability to convey emotions. She had to be some sort of hacker or something.

"Yes, I am. My husband and I have been apart of the program in one way or another since it was created. We know our way in and out of it, Reiko."

Pi's eyes narrowed further, but she accepted her elders answer.

"Now then, as to what we'll do-"

Sara broke off, her eyes widening as she turned to Yata, obviously shortmailing him. Then, within a matter of seconds she logged off, leaving all six of the clueless epitaph users confused.

"As my 'superior' was saying, we have a plan until the system is restored. Some of you will be investigating Moon Tree's headquarters, while the rest of you will search for the data of Corbenik."

Haseo blinked, his confusion evident on his face. The data for Corbenik was supposed to be within Ovan's character. And either way, why was Corbenik even needed for this?

"Ovan, or Masato Indou, was found dead only days after the Rebirth was activated. His character was deleted soon after."

"Meaning...." Pi began, her head jerking up.

"The Epitaph of Corbenik runs free, searching for a new host."

* * *

* * *

**AN: And so the tale of our heroes begins again.**


	3. Login 3:

_Sara,_

_She's awake. I'll meet you at the hospital._

_-John_

* * *

-**Kaden POV-**

I felt lost....that really was the only way to describe it. Everything around me was completely black, so trying to navigate it was impossible. But I knew that if I didn't try, the darkness would eat me alive and destroy everything I had been. I had to survive, for Miriam and Ella's sakes. For Miriam, I solely had to live, doing that one thing for her made me feel better, because I knew she couldn't while she slept. But for Ella...

I had to survive because I knew that that monster in Moon Tree's headquarters wasn't her, even if it did have her face. I knew exactly how Ella was, and never had she been like that.

So those were the only thoughts I kept in my mind; My two sisters, trapped by their seperate demons and me fighting to live for or save them.

That was the way it had always been. Even if I was the middle child, I was always the one protecting them from any of their troubles. Even if I was five years younger than Miriam, she could count on me being there for her. In fact, when I was in kindergarten, I'd seen Miriam being picked on by her fellow classmates and quickly charged them, screaming and hollering for them to stop.

Ella was no different, except for the fact that I'd gotten into far more trouble when I defended her because I was beating up younger children. It didn't matter to me though; the trouble and punishment was worth it when I saw my sisters smiling faces.

It was with those thoughts in mind that I fought through the darkness and was able to bring myself up. Instantly my senses were assailed with multiple things. I could smell the sickening hospital scent of soap and disinfectant, and hear the various doctors and nurses that were walking up and down the halls that were just outside of my overly white room.

"Son of a bitch...couldn't I have stayed home?" I muttered thickly, knowing that my father, who was sitting beside my bed, could hear everything that I said.

"And what, leave you home to suffocate?" He asked.

"It'd be better than this hell." I looked at him. "Nice to see you again."

My father and I had the closest father-daughter relationship out of his three kids. Ella hadn't been around long enough to really get to know him before he moved to Japan and Miriam had been in coma for over seven years, so it wasn't easy for him to hold a relationship with her. But I'd known my dad and had been at the perfect age to understand him. Because of that I'd had a close bond with him. We knew exactly when the other one was stressed, and knew when and when not to push their buttons.

Even in Japan, we'd kept in touch. I'd call him everyday so we could give each other a few updates about our lives and talk each others ears off.

It only made sense that he would show up.

"How long has it been?" I questioned, rolling onto my side. My muscles protested slightly, nearly locked in place.

"About a week. You really scared me, Kaden."

"I'm always one for a show." I stuck my tongue out, recieving a small chuckle back.

"You know, your mom has been in a real fit ever since you went under.

I grimaced, knowing that it was the absolute truth. My mom had a terrible issue of working herself up over things and then taking it out on others. It surely meant hell for me, especially if I tried to restart the game.

My Dad on the other hand.....

"Dad, can I come back to Japan with you?"

My dad's eyes narrowed as he looked at me suspiciously.

"Why?"

I looked away. Part of the problem with our super-bond was that we always knew if the other person had multiple reasons for doing something, even if we couldn't detect what.

"Something weird happened when I went under...."

"Something....Ella related?"

I shut my eyes as he nodded. Everyone knew my weak spot for her.

"Look Kaden, about Ella. She's not much better off than you were a few days ago. Right after we heard about you going into a coma, we realized Ella was missing. It took awhile, but we found out that she was taken to a hospital after passing out in an internet Cafe."

My heart stopped as he spoke, realizing that not only had I lost my hero, I'd lost the person that I'd sworn to protect. I'd failed twice in my goals.

"I wanna see her."

He nodded and went to call a nurse, averting his eyes two seconds to late. I could see how it had to hurt a lot more for him. He'd nearly lost all three of his kids to the came that he worked on.

'The World.'


	4. Login 4:

**AN: Weeeeeeeeeee I missed Kaden Kaden. :D**

* * *

After I'd seen Ella, I demanded that I should be immediatly released. My father and most of the doctors had hesitated, but after getting a rather loud earful from me, I was released. Right after that, I made my request to go to Japan yet again, this time my father obliged seeing the detirmination in my eyes. I knew he didn't want to, but he didn't dare fight me off. Once I set my head on something, my course couldn't be altered.

The plane ride was the worst part about it. I'd never been one for small enclosed spaces, number one, and being in the for several hours... it didn't bode well for me. After only an hour in I was hopping in my seat.

"Dad, why can't they make one of the super jets fly between Austrailia and Japan? It would go so much faster."

"They do Kaden, but there's only one and it cost a lot."

"Well you're big a CC Corp, don't you make a lot of money?" I questioned, catching my fathers smirk.

"Yes, but why would I buy tickets to please my daughter when I can torment her on this flight."

After that I shut my mouth and crossed my arms over my chest, a fierce scowl on my mouth. My dad merely imitated the pose, further darkening my look. I knew that I was making a total fool out of myself, and I was sure most of the people were wondering what a mature adult like me, or I had seemed at first, was pouting for. Of course, my idiocy was quickly over looked as they saw the old man that was my father happened to be doing the same thing.

My dad sure knew how to make a flight quick.

* -* -*

About three hours after we landed, my father had to go into work, leaving me alone in the house. Naturally, I set to what I'd told my self subconciously to do.

Restart the game and find out what happened.

Of course, that was easier said then done, all things considered. There was the matter of resigning up underneath a new credit card and then transfering my funds from Masquerade I to that account. For a moment, I considered destroying Masquerade, but decided against it. After this whole thing was over, I wanted to have my normal character back.

Then it came to character design which was hell in itself. The main problem I was having was what I would use as a character class. Masquerade I was a Shadow Warlock, and I'd hated being one; I'd felt so limited in what I could do. But at the same time, I enjoyed it because I could use basic healing spells, which often helped out Ella and I.

Scrolling through the choices, I thought about the pro's and con's for each. Tribal Grapplers were a little better, having nice strength, quick attacks and high HP, but their defense was too low in my eyes and they didn't have the skills that I liked. Steam Gunners were fairly similar to Shadow Warlocks, so I quickly left those out. Harvest Clerics were too weak physically, and I really didn't want to stand back and heal my way to saving Ella, which was the same for the Macabre Dancer.

I was more selfish about the Lord Partizan class, deciding that I didn't want to walk around with a gaudy spear that was hard to swing around, but I didn't want a thin sword either, so I quickly left out Blade Brandier as well.

That left me stuck between Twin Blade, Flick Reaper or Edge Punisher, and I really couldn't decide between them.

I sat there for nearly ten minutes, debating over my choice, when I saw the Adept Rogues. At first I was remotely concerned at the fact that they levelled slowly, but the amount of choice I could recieve from them instantly sold me.

After that, I had to consider what I would name the new character. I didn't want it to be obvious that it was me, but at the same time I _did _want it to be obvious, so that anyone who had gotten close to Ella would know that I was coming, if they had been told that much about me.

I giggled at the thought and leaned my head back, thinking back to when Ella and I were young. We used to envision ourselves as all kinds of things, especially when Ella wanted to play pretend. Often, I would be the hero trying to save her, but the hero was nameless.

Then one night, after Ella had a nightmare, she crawled into my bed and slept with me. It was right at dawn then, and I'd promised her that I'd avenge her by fighting off the scary nightmares until she was old enough to do so on her own.

After that my hero's name was the Dawn Sky Avenger.

With a grim smile, I leaned back to the computer and typed in the name, followed by my password, making sure to alter it just in case Ella had leaked my usual password.

With that typed in, I took a deep breath and pressed the create button, abosorbing myself once again in 'the World.'


	5. Login 5:

**AN: Yes yes....my baby. :D I really did miss this**

* * *

The first thing I realized when I logged in was that everything seemed off for a moment. It seemed that my entire screen had inverted, as if I was looking into the the negative of a photo. Then it faded, as if nothing had happened, leaving me to wonder if M2D was glitching out and needed to be replaced. It wouldn't surprise me if it did, seeing as how Ella and I had had our fair share of disasters with every piece of electronical equipment we had owned. The M2D itself had hit the floor at least ten times due to either Ella or I tackling the other (Pre-hating days) to get a chance at playing the game.

The second thing I realized is that my character was a lot taller than Masquerade I had ever been. I knew my character had to be about six feet now, two and a half feet taller than the midget Masquerade was. I couldn't help but smile at the thought of it.

The third thing I realized was my level counter.

"Damn." I hissed, drawing the attention of a few passerby's to me before they continued on their merry way to whatever they did with their lives.

Sure, I knew my character would be level one again, but it was still painful to see after all the work I had done to bring Masquerade up to the boasting level of one-hundred. This new level was dispicable to my already trained eyes. This was like losing data on a precious memory card at the end of a really good game and having to go back and do it all over again.

At least in this game, things were always changing. I wouldn't have to repeat any levels or do anything else that I had done already aside from the Animal Hunting quests, but the starter quest always seemed to vary. It didn't look like it would be too annoying and as an added bonus, I wouldn't have to worry too much about people asking for me to join their parties or needing to be in one.

Of course, many of the quests in the quest shop required parties.

"Okay, Kaden. Step one: make friends."

I started walking and pushed the steel doors open. Instantly the sun assailed my eyes, impressing me as it always did. It took a truly talented game designer to potentially blind its future players.

Now it came down to the problem of finding people that would join my party. I'd never been good at making friends, that had always been Ella's job to do in the game. But it couldn't possibly be too hard.

A few seconds after a wandered onto the bridge leading to the center of Mac Anu, I felt someone tap my shoulder. Turning, I saw a little boy with a hat similar to jesters on top of his head.

"S'cuse me..." He murmured, moving his hand back. "Did you say you were looking for friends?"

I nodded and bit my lip slightly, not sure what to say. On top of the friends issue, I had trouble communicating with others, which was extremely sad.

"And you're a new player?" He asked, looking up at me with a small smile. I couldn't help but smile back, and for a second it was like I was communicating with Ella again.

"Well, my big brother has a special guild. It helps out new players when they need it. I could shortmail him if you wanted."

"T-That would be great. Thank you," I scrolled across his name "Sakubo."

"You're welcome Kaden. But please, just call me Bo." He told me and for a second, I caught an innocent but conspiritorial look in his eye, before he turned away and began to shortmail his brother. I continued standing there, looking around. A group of people walked together, talking about the coming tournament in Lumina Cloth. I'd always wanted to participate in one, but stood back since Ella didn't want to do it and I didn't have the courage to either talk to other people to join with me or the strength to enter myself. It still seemed like a good idea though.

"Kaden, my brother says he is on his way. Be warned though... big brother can be a little rough in his training."

"What do you-"

Bo waved his fingers and warped, interupting me before I could get the rest of my sentence out. He still had that odd look in his eyes though, a look that seriously weirded me out.

With a sigh, I sat on the ground and crossed my legs. Meditating could be cheesy, yes, but it calmed me, no matter what situation I was in. So I sat there, both in the game and out of it, taking deep breaths as the world moved around me.

_Kaden...._

My eyes shot open as I leapt up, nearly disconnecting my computer, M2D and keyboard in the process. Quickly, I pulled my M2D off and looked around, searching for the source of the voice but finding nothing.

With a deep breath I sat back down and found myself face to face with a character who had blood red eyes.

I was sure the entire world, both in game and out heard my scream.


	6. Login 6:

**AN: Well, I'm sorry about the wait guys... HAPPY BIRTHDAY KADEN!!!!**

* * *

The guy sat there looking annoyed at my now fading scream. I could tell that he wasn't happy about me attempting to break the sound barrier. His friend however looked extremely amused.

"Are you done yet?" The red-eyed guy asked, standing up straight and crossing his arms over his chest. I could tell by the way he looked that he was the impatient type who probably hadn't had a girlfriend and never would. Hell, he reminded me of me.

"I dunno." I retorted, hopping up. "Are you done being an ass?"

From beside us, the blue-haired guy whistled and chuckled, eyeing the both of us as we faced off. We stood like that for about three minutes, neither of us backing down or stepping up. We probably would have been there longer, had Redeyes companion not seperated us.

"Calm down. Both of you. No need to get angry with each other when-" He broke off and looked away, obviously saying something that he shouldn't have said.

"Right." Redeye nodded and stepped back. "Name's Haseo, and this is Kuhn." He pointed to Mr. Bluehair, who winked at me. I only rolled my eyes, barely holding in my displeasure. Even when I'd been playing under better circumstances, I'd hated dealing with in-game perverts.

"Okay, you're Kaden...right?" Haseo asked.

"Mhmm..." I nodded, doubting that I could keep the venom out of my words.

He nodded a bit, then started in on a lecture of the basics, obviously not enjoying it. He also didn't seem to mind looking at my face, for he often spoke to me with his back turned. I didn't mind this all that much, for each time he was turned away I mocked him. Yes, it was childish and practically unheard of behavior for someone who was nearly twenty years old, but seeing as how I'd grown up with a younger sister and childlike parents, it was pretty much all I knew. Besides, it seemed to amuse Kuhn, taking away from my hatred toward his earlier flirty self.

"Yoooou know..." I began after Haseo ended his long winded speech. "I already knew this stuff."

"You mean I wasted ten minutes of my time explaining this to you?" He asked, fury burning through his eyes.

"Yup. Pretty much. But it wasn't a total waste...I was pretty entertained."

Haseo eyed me before growling something about hating me and stalking off toward the Chaos gate, barely managing to motion for us to follow. Kuhn chuckled a bit and patted my head.

"You're not half bad, Kaden."

"Mm... how do you two know my name?" I asked, walking slowly toward the chaos gate.

"Well, the caption above your head says it all." He pointed and smirked. "Are you sure you're not a noob."

"Yeah, positive. After all, I was put into a coma."

"But that could happen at any level." he pointed out. "Besides, you're level one, so how would I know any better."

"Maybe I'm a noob now, but I wasn't before..."

Kuhn looked away, then back at me.

"What happened."

I started to answer, but Haseo interupted us, shouting about us being as slow as Gaspard. I reminded myself to keep this comment in mind, wondering how in the world he managed to keep any friends at all. Before I could ask though, a pop up hit my screen, signifying a friend request from, who else, Haseo.

"Aww, the sad little boy wants a friend?" I asked, accepting it.

"Shut it Kaden, I'll PK you."

"No you won't, Kuhn will protect me."

With that I leaped onto Kuhn and giggled for the first time since I'd lost Ella. Even though it hadn't been that long, it was unnatural for me. I always had something to laugh about.

"Actually, I think I'm on Haseo's side. He's stronger than me soo..." Kuhn slipped out of my grasp and winked. "Sorry."

"Mean." I muttered and looked at the Chaos Gate. "Let's get this show on the road then. The sooner we start the sooner I can kick Haseo's ass.


	7. Login 7:

It turned out my short term goal of kicking Haseo's ass became a long term goal and my long term goal of saving Ella turned out to be an even longer term goal. By the end of the first day I'd only gained three levels, putting me at a whopping level four. Naturally this was very amusing to Haseo.

"So, what happened to 'beating my ass' Kaden?" He asked, his red eyes narrowed and a severely annoying smirk on his face.

"Shut... up..." I muttered, focusing solely on throwing my twin blade up in the air.

"I should point out that you can barely take out a goblin at your level." He told me, poking me rather hard in the head.

"And _I _should point out that your attitude is remotely goblin like, so it's very easy to get confused." I sneered as Kuhn chuckled. He had watched from the sidelines all day as Haseo and I chewed one another out, pausing only to fight off enemies and then starting up again when Haseo criticized my technique.

"Oooh, going to assault me with words instead Kaden?" Haseo asked. I only laughed a little and caught my spinning twin blade before disbanding the party and storming to the chaos gate. I could've sworn I heard one of them call my name, but didn't bother looking back at them as I warped back to Mac Anu.

Once I was there, I wandered through the streets and Alley's of the city, listening in on the gossip of several gamers. It seemed the big topic was the comatose players and a computer virus called AIDA. I'd heard of the virus a few months back when Ella and I had been playing, just shortly before she started distancing herself from me. We'd often theorized that it was people getting to involved with games and forgetting about real life. Shortly after one of us said our theory, we would glance at the other and then start excercizing like hell.

I sighed a little and seated myself on a barrel. Just the thought of Ella sent pain crackling through me and brought tears to my eyes. I hated living without the piece of my soul that kept me going; my own little piece of Ella.

Before I knew what was happening, I was crying IRL and pressing my face to my knees inside the game, not caring if anyone saw.

I don't know how long I sat there before footsteps approached and my private chat alerts started going off.

Kuhn: _Kaden...what's wrong?_

I blinked a little and looked at the chat box before glancing over at the figure standing at the mouth of the alley. He had his arms across his chest and was leaning against the wall, gold eyes focused on mine.

"It's nothing." I muttered, not even bothering with private chat. "Don't worry about it, okay?"

"Too late." He stated, pushing himself off the wall and walking to me. "I'm worried."

"Don't be." I repeated and turned my head away from him. It didn't stop him though, he placed his hands on my shoulders and forced me to turn to him.

"Why not?" He asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Because I don't need your sympathy or help. I can take care of everything on my own."

With that I stood and stormed off, ignoring the pulsing with in me, assuming it was merely anger fighting its way up.

* * *

Kuhn sat there for awhile after the girl left, trying to identify what he felt when the girl stated she didn't need his help. It certainly wasn't anger...he didn't mind being pushed away. Hell, he was used to it from all the times he tried to help Haseo. Understanding perhaps? After all, he had his own lone wolf stage, where he pushed away the help of everyone unless he really needed it. Yes, understanding.... but there was something else.

_Sympathy... Tomonari, you know better; you can't take care of things like this on your own. _He told himself, whispering it from behind his computer. It had to be both sympathy and understanding... for Kuhn knew the life of a lone wolf all too well.

Kuhn started to started to stand and follow her, only to receive an urgent short mail from Yata.

_There are AIDA signals at Delta: Hidden ForbiddenHoly Ground. Kuhn, go there and eradicate them._

Kuhn frowned, partially wanting to go after Kaden, but decided against it and ran toward the Chaos Gate at full speed. Kaden most certainly could wait; the AIDA and whoever else was in danger simply could not.


End file.
